Customer Case Study
Electric Utility Streamlines Substation Operations
with Cisco
Duke Energy standardizes on Cisco Connected Grid for migrating serial networks to a
standards-based IP infrastructure.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
DUKE ENERGY, INC.
● Energy
● Charlotte, North Carolina, US
● 18,440 employees
CHALLENGE
● Upgrade legacy SCADA systems
● Scale network to support growing number of
telemetry devices
● Meet NERC/CIP, IEC 61850-3, and IEEE
1613 compliance
SOLUTION
● Deployed Cisco 2010 Connected Grid Router
and Cisco 2520 Connected Grid Switch as
foundation of integrated power grid network
● Extended Cisco IP infrastructure in corporate
environment to substations
● Implemented centralized security and
management
RESULTS
● Obtained highly flexible, intelligent foundation
for cross-company applications
● Improved security and visibility into substation
information
● Better monitoring and logging of telemetry
data
Challenge
Duke Energy [NYSE:DUK] is one of the largest electric power
companies in the United States, supplying and delivering energy to
four million U.S. customers. Headquartered in Charlotte, North
Carolina, its U.S. power portfolio comprises approximately 35,000
megawatts of wholesale electric generation capacity in the Carolinas
and the Midwest, plus natural gas distribution services in Ohio and
Kentucky. As well, the company’s commercial and international
businesses own and operate power generation plants in North and
South America, including renewable energy assets.
As Duke Energy’s U.S. infrastructure footprint has expanded, the
company has been challenged by its increasingly complex network
of substation systems. Legacy infrastructures have begun to limit the
availability of real-time telemetry data, and systems are becoming
limited in scalability. As well, much equipment now averages more
than a decade in service, and the company’s budget plan restricts
quick upgrades.
To address these issues, managers began planning a series of
initiatives to upgrade the utility’s substations and integrate its
networking capabilities, creating an automated smart grid built on
Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), protection relays, and IP-based
networking. These initiatives included:
●
Creating a cohesive network across plant and corporate systems based on standardized protocols
●
Helping ensure grid reliability with better situational awareness and real-time analysis
●
Improving security while providing greater visibility into the performance and health of substation systems
●
Implementing IEDs to help collect more telemetry data for monitoring, logging, and auditing
●
Prolonging asset life with remote diagnostics and predictive maintenance
“We recognized that with the growing number of intelligent devices in the substation which rely on the IP protocol
for communications, we needed highly reliable and rugged networking devices to meet these tough environmental
conditions,” said Elvis Landry, Duke Energy telecommunications data network design and support manager.
“Cisco’s Connected Grid router and switch fully addresses our environmental challenge while increasing
operational flexibility.”
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
Page 1 of 4
Solution
Over the years, Duke Energy had deployed a variety of serial-based remote terminal units (RTUs) and IEDs from
different vendors in its substation networks. Many of these supported older, proprietary supervisory control and
data acquisition (SCADA) protocols, and as a result were not as flexible or scalable as the IP network deployed in
Duke’s corporate systems.
Today, however, many RTUs are now manufactured with Ethernet interfaces, enabling the extension of the
corporate network into the grid. By migrating away from proprietary protocols, the company is no longer
constrained by single-vendor solutions. Instead, the open IP-based network enables networking of IEDs from
multiple vendors. This approach supports multiple network topologies and redundancy schemes for protection
against link and node failures. In addition, IP allows Duke to migrate from serial to Ethernet devices over time,
rather than demanding a single comprehensive upgrade. IP/Ethernet allows for the transport of legacy substation
protocols such as Modbus and DNP3.
Duke Energy made the decision to embrace these industry standards to help ensure that equipment is reliable
even within harsh substation environments. It selected the IEEE-1613 standard as its benchmark, using its
specifications for hardening communications equipment to withstand electromagnetic interference, surge, and
extreme weather.
Based on this protocol, the company decided on the Cisco® 2010 Connected Grid Router (CGR 2010) and the
Cisco 2520 Connected Grid Switch (CGS 2520) as the IP network infrastructure for its primary substations. The
Cisco Connected Grid platforms comply with the IEEE-1613 and IEC-61850-3 standard, and provide a modular
design that offers maximum flexibility to add new interfaces as needed. Dual, hot-swappable power supplies make
it easy to repower without taking the network out of service. These power supplies can be used interchangeably
between the CGR 2010 and the CGS 2520, reducing spares and maintenance costs.
By extending the IP infrastructure from the enterprise, Duke is now able to support both operational and
nonoperational data transmissions on a single network. For example, the IP network is used to monitor Ethernetbased phasor measurement units (PMUs) and other sensors deployed in the substation. Virtual local area
networks (VLANs) are deployed to segment data traffic across a common IP infrastructure. Figure 1 shows the
substation network design.
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Figure 1.
Duke Energy substation network
Deploying a secure network infrastructure was also paramount for Duke Energy to help address federal North
American Electricity Reliability Corporation-Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC-CIP) mandates for
cybersecurity. The CGR 2010 integrates with any authentication server that adheres to the RADIUS or TACACS
standard. This capability provides Duke with added flexibility to manage the substation’s current and newly
installed network equipment. The company also uses the Cisco ACS server, which was already deployed in its
operations centers, to enable user authentication without having to invest in a separate authentication solution.
“To fully leverage the benefits of digital technology, Duke Energy is taking an end-to-end approach with smart grid
that includes digital technologies on substations such as Cisco’s Connected Grid solutions,” said Mark Wyatt, vice
president of Duke Energy’s smart grid and energy systems program. “We recognize that this end-to-end approach
requires many different parts, so to optimize across all of them today and in the future, we’re counting on an IPbased network. Cisco is a recognized leader in network solutions, and we are pleased to partner with them.”
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Results
Today, Duke Energy networks its substations, using the same common tools deployed in the corporate system,
providing greater transparency and manageability of grid assets within each location. Improved visibility into and
remote control of these devices has improved grid reliability and engineer productivity. As an existing Cisco
customer, Duke also has been able to leverage its existing knowledge of Cisco to avoid the cost of retraining
technicians. Because the Cisco Connected Grid solutions are based on open standards, they interoperate with
existing network management tools.
This new level of automation has provided the foundation to allow management to create proactive maintenance
programs based on more accurate and complete telemetry. The investment is further protected by having the
groundwork in place to eventually add services such as wireless, voice over IP (VoIP), and business video.
The full support by Cisco of the upcoming IPv6 protocol protects Duke Energy’s investment, a critical issue as
device counts across the industry expand inside the substation fence and along distribution feeders. Built-in
support for IPv6 helps ensure that Duke can deploy new technologies to keep substation networks secure, reliable,
and scalable for years to come.
Printed in USA
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
C36-679155-00
07/11
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